In a photolithography process, which is a manufacturing process for micro-devices (electronic devices etc.), such as liquid crystal display devices and the like, an exposure apparatus is used which projects and exposes a pattern, formed on a mask, onto a photosensitive substrate. This exposure apparatus includes a mask stage that holds the mask and a substrate stage that holds the substrate, and the exposure apparatus projects and exposes the pattern of the mask onto the substrate via a projection optical system while successively moving the mask stage and the substrate stage. In the manufacture of a micro-device, the pattern formed on the substrate must be made fine in order to increase the density of the device. To address this need, even higher resolution of the exposure apparatus is desired. As a means for realizing this higher resolution, there is proposed a liquid immersion exposure apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 1, in which an immersion region of a liquid is formed on a substrate and the substrate is exposed via the liquid of the immersion region.
Patent Document 1: PCT International Patent Publication No. WO 99/49504